Behind White Picket Fences
by MKAmericanhero
Summary: We never got to see much of an emotional reaction from Callie when it came to being back in Liam's house. So what would've happened if moms had found out about her day and pressed the teenager to tear down one of her walls and let them help her


**Ok, so this is hands down just a one shot, but the scene with Liam's mom made me think of what Stef or Lena would have done if they found out what happened when Callie and AJ went over there. This was floating in my head this morning and I wanted to put it out there. I naturally shift toward Stef/Callie interactions, but I'm gonna try and throw Lena in there too so they both get a voice.**

Lena saw the two teenagers sitting on the porch swing as she sat in the living room, trying to unwind from the stressful week she had been through. She kept a watchful eye on AJ and Callie, but was relieved to see Callie snuggle into AJ and appear to be very comfortable with the interaction. After about ten minutes of a conversation, that Lena couldn't hear, the two kissed goodbye and Callie eventually found her way inside.

"Hey, how did the photos turn out? Did you get all of the houses you needed?" Callie clutched her camera in her hand and offered her mother an awkward smile.

"Not all of them, but I got a good start on it. Got 3 out the 7." Lena noticed that Callie seemed a bit…off. As though she wanted to get away from Lena as fast as humanly possible because she was scared she'd share too much.

"Did something happen? Anyone give you trouble?" Callie seemed to weigh her options as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"No…I mean, sort of, but nothing bad…I handled it." Just as Lena was about to speak, Stef walked in the room and beat her to it.

"Handled what?" Stef joined her wife on the couch and was curious as to why Callie seemed so eager to go upstairs.

"Nothing, AJ and I were just out getting the pictures for my senior project."

"Callie, remember when you said that you have walls up, but sometimes they don't help you? We can help you figure things out, but we can't read minds. You've got to meet us half way." Callie weighed what Lena said against her inner voice telling her to shut up and keep it to herself, but Callie knew Lena was right and deep down…Callie didn't want to keep this to herself. She wanted someone, other than AJ to help her through this.

"I was taking pictures at one of the houses and my old foster mom came home as we were leaving and wanted to talk to me."

"Which house was it?" Stef asked the question in a tone that told Callie that she had a good guess as to who's house it was.

"Liam's house. It was Liam's mom that wanted to talk to me." Callie rubbed her shoulder in an effort to soothe herself and both mothers felt some of the air get sucked out of the room.

"Did she hurt you?" Callie shook her head no.

"She just wanted to tell me to my face how I had ruined her family by testifying against Liam. Her marriage is breaking up and she said she was sorry that she ever brought me into her house. I told her that I was sorry she brought me into her house too. Then I took my pictures and we left."

"You still took pictures?"

"She told me I could, so I did and then we got the hell out of there and came home."

Lena tried to shift the conversation, asking, "are you ok?"

"The thing that made that house scary is gone and in prison. She doesn't scare me and she just wanted to feel important and powerful and I wouldn't let her do that. So yeah, I'm ok." Callie nodded towards the stairs and started up the first step.

"I'm gonna go put the pictures on my computer and start working on them." Callie went up the stairs before her mothers could stop her and when they heard the door shit upstairs, both women shared a nervous look with each other.

"Who wants to go after her?" Before Lena could finish the question Stef was already getting up from the couch.

"I'll give her a few minutes to get settled and then I'll see what I can do." Stef offered Lena a quick kiss before heading upstairs and finding something to waste ten minutes doing. When enough time had elapsed she went to the girls' room and knocked before entering to see Mariana on Callie's bed with her, the laptop settled between them.

"Hey girls, everything good in here?" Both of them nodded, but Mariana's eyes gave them both away since she looked like she was about to cry or fight someone. That look told Stef more about the situation they had found themselves in and she knew she needed to see what Mariana had seen in those pictures to truly grasp what Callie had experienced earlier in the day.

"Mariana, could Callie and I have the room for a little bit?" Mariana looked to Callie and with a quick nod from her sister that told her it was ok to leave, Mariana was out the door, leaving Stef to try and help Callie.

"Any chance I can see the pictures you took?" Callie weighed her options before relenting and moving over so her mother could sit next to her on the bed. She clicked on the first picture and let Stef scroll through them.

"These are really good Callie." Callie would've said something except at that moment Stef clicked on the next photo and Callie's eyes seemed to gloss over with a thin layer of tears that the teen was willing to stay in her eyes. Stef looked at the picture of the seemingly innocent house in front of her and she realized quickly what she was looking at.

"Can I look at the rest of them Callie?" Callie was lost in a memory or in her own head, Stef wasn't sure, but she pressed on and saw the close ups of the house and then she saw the interior pictures. She made it as far as the pictures Callie took of her old bedroom and the details of her old bed before she looked up and saw that Callie was laser focused on the pictures on the computer. And though her face remained as stoic as she could make it, the tear that rolled down her cheek was telling. Stef closed the computer slowly and placed it on the nightstand.

"Callie." Stef was met with more silence and she tried again to get Callie's attention.

"Callie. Love I need you to look at me, please." Callie blinked a few times before looking at her mother.

"Going in that house must've been hard. Seeing everything in that setting must have been hard, but it won't feel any better unless you talk it out."

Callie was quiet for a moment before taking a deep breath and looking Stef square in the eye said, "it hasn't changed."

"What hasn't changed love?"

"That room…it used to be mine and it looked exactly like it did the day we left and the day he…nothing changed."

"Honey, I'm so sorry, but something did change. You are not in that room anymore." Callie nodded her head and looked around her room.

"I know. But sometimes…"

"Sometimes what love?"

"Sometimes I still feel like I'm in there and that I'll never really get out of it. He's in prison and I'm stuck in that god damn room." Callie's resolve was gone and Stef couldn't just let her try and soothe herself so she reached out and touched Callie's shoulder, not thinking about Callie's startle response. The teen jumped and moved away out of instinct, too lost in the memories to really stay rooted in the reality of her home.

"Callie it's just me. I'm not going to hurt you love." Callie let Stef rub her shoulder, this time without jumping away.

"Callie…just tell me what I or mama can do to help you and we'll do it." Callie looked at Stef like a child that had just woken up from a nightmare.

"I don't want to be stuck in that room anymore." Then the dam broke and the tears were streaming down her face and as Callie fell into Stef's arms it occurred to Stef that despite all the trials and conversations about Liam, Callie never got the chance to mourn what happened to her and that was likely why she was falling apart now.

Stef let Callie cry, knowing that this needed to happen in order for her daughter to ever truly move forward.

"It's ok baby, I got you." And that's how they stayed for the next half an hour until Callie got tired and literally cried herself to sleep. Stef laid her down and laid next to her daughter so that they were facing each other and Stef tucked a stray hair behind Callie's ear.

"You, my sweet girl, are not stuck anywhere anymore. Never again Callie. I won't let anyone else hurt you like he did. I promise." Stef fell asleep next to her daughter and that's where Lena found them an hour later. Callie had moved closer to Stef in her sleep and was now clutching to Stef like a she was a life raft. Lena hated it, but for tonight this was the best they could do and this was the best support they could offer Callie as she tried to move forward.

 **So I know I made Callie seem more upset than she seemed in the episode, but the way she said 'it hasn't changed' in regards to the room made me think that there was an emotional reaction that we never got to see. Like I said, just something that was floating around in my head.**


End file.
